We all know those tricky letters that students confuse with one another. Usually “b” is confused with “d”, “p” gets switched with “q” or even the number “9”, and “n” and “u” always trip up your students. Even “m” and “w” or “z” and “s” can be challenging. Next thing you know, your students are writing “dig” instead of “big” or “qot” instead of “pot”. It can be very frustrating to constantly make them erase and rewrite their letters to make them correct. Today, I will share some tips and tricks to help students correct letter reversals and stop letter confusion, while working on proper letter formation.
Do I need to be concerned with letter reversals and dyslexia?
Letter reversals and letter confusion are very common in young students up to age 8. Many parents worry that it is a sign of dyslexia, however, it is not a concern until the child is older. In my experience, I'd say over half of my students struggle with a pair of confusing letters throughout the year. Even those who have mastered letter recognition and are starting to read still struggle at times. There is no research that correlates letter reversals and dyslexia. Contrary to popular belief, dyslexia is NOT a visual processing disorder, but rather a phonological processing deficit.
From the International Dyslexia Association, “Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.” You can read more about dyslexia here.
Using Multi-Sensory Materials to Teach Confusing Letters
Letter Construction Activity
Using our hands to learn is one of the best ways to help students learn! This letter construction set was always a hit during our reading center rotation, but it can also be used for extra letter practice. It comes with cards to help build each letter in both upper and lowercase letters. For your students who are struggling with letter reversals, you can use the letters that they need to practice. By manipulating these pieces, you are helping their muscle memory differentiate the confusing letters.
You can find this Letter Construction set here: Learning Resources Letter Construction Set
Play Dough Mats
Another way to practice letter formation is with play dough. Students will roll the play dough like a snake, and then manipulate the piece to form the letter.
Sand writing
Using our fingers to write letters is another way to use muscle memory to help get those confusing letters down. These sand trays are an easy sensory way to practice letter formation. For my students, I would pair it with a handwriting worksheet, like this one here. First, the student would practice writing the letter in the sand tray, then trace the letter, and finally write the letter. They would continue with lowercase letter lines in the same way.
You can find this Sand Tray here: Primary Concepts Sand Tray
Visual Cues to Help Stop Letter Reversals
Using hands
Perhaps the easiest way is to use our hands to show the difference between the letters b and d. This doesn't work for the rest of the confusing letters, but b and d are definitely the most common letter reversals. Just hold up your hands to make two thumbs up. When looking at your hands the left hand shows the “b”, while the right hand shows the “d”. It looks like this:
When I notice that students are confusing b and d, I have them “check their thumbs”. This is a good cue for them to check the letter they just wrote down or a great helper if they are stuck with how to write it.
Sorting Letters
Using sorting activities is a great way to practice visual discrimination. For this activity, you can type letters using a bunch of different fonts, print, and cut them out. Using a pocket chart, have students come up, grab a letter, and sort them under the correct letter. This is another way to introduce different ways letters may look, for example, a q with a tail and without a tail. You can also find a letter sort inside the Multi-Sensory Letter Reversal activity pack here.
Free Poster Download
I created these free posters to print and display in your classroom. They show an image that comes first, so students can remember what to start with when writing the letter. It includes letters, b, d, p, and q. You can download them from my TpT store here.
Helpful Songs to Play
As a teacher, I loved using YouTube videos to help introduce a topic or teach a skill. The videos in this playlist here are a great way to combine visual and auditory cues to help letter reversals.
You can save the YouTube playlist here: Stop Letter Reversals Playlist
Get the confusing letters activity pack here
Inside this resource, you will find multi-sensory activities and worksheets to help your students correct letter reversals and stop letter confusion focusing on letter reversals with b/d, p/q/g, m/w, and n/u. Get the Multi-Sensory Letter Reversal activity pack here.
